News

8

August

2018

Refer a Friend

Of course the summer months also mean that recruiting new staff becomes extra challenging and so we’re once again trying to highlight the financial benefits of our Refer a Friend scheme. It really works! Just this week Runnymede care worker Gillian Kneale wrote:

'I referred a friend via email to HR, and they did the rest! After her three months successful probation period I received my bonus, a nice sum for such little effort. Wish it was always that easy to make extra money!'

The Refer a Friend scheme has proven to be our most successful source of finding the right kind of people to become care workers. Not only does it help us find candidates that are more likely to stick with us, but it’s an opportunity for you to make a bit of money that would otherwise go to online recruitment companies.

Here are a few things to remember about the Refer a Friend Scheme:

We pay you £600 if you refer a full-time (35+ hours a week) driver

We pay you £250 if you refer a part-time (16-25 hours a week) driver

We are likely to pay less for casual bank staff and any bonus will be calculated based on the hours your friend ends up working

We don’t currently pay bonuses for live-in care workers or non-drivers

There is no limit to the amount of people you can refer

You don’t have to be an employee of the company to refer a friend, anybody can get involved in this scheme

New carers will not mean you get less hours. The more care workers we hire, the more new work we can take!

As soon as the person you refer to us passes their three month probation period we will pay your bonus into your bank account along with your wages. Those of you referring more than one person can also benefit from other perks such as added payments and extra days of annual leave!

Finding new carers to join our team alleviates the pressure on each and every one of you and means the office can approve holiday and cover sickness more easily. It means less squeezed rounds, more work for the company and a better service all round for our clients.

If you know anybody that you think would make a good care worker then please ask them to get in touch:

Phone: 0208 481 0226

E-Mail: recruitment@clarendonhomecare.com

Apply online: www.clarendonhomecare.com/jobs

1

June

2018

Job Opportunity: Care Coordinator

With Vicky moving over to take Karl’s position on the Quality Assurance team, we are once again on the hunt for a care coordinator to work in the office:

Care Coordinator / Office Based / £22,000 per annum / Full-time

As a care coordinator you will join our busy, bustling operations department which is the first line of communication for care workers, service users, family members and health and social care professionals.

You’ll field daily phone calls and e-mails in a calm and professional way and you’ll be an excellent written and verbal communicator who is cool under pressure while always being patient and professional.

You’ll be able to prioritise your tasks across any given day and you’ll enjoy a challenging and hectic but extremely rewarding work environment. You’ll find satisfaction in helping others, solving their problems and making a real and remarkable difference to their day. You’ll have an outgoing and friendly personality with a sense of humour and an excellent attention to detail.

Applicants must:

• Have an excellent telephone manner, attention to detail and the ability to work under pressure

• Be able to work confidently with Excel, Word, and Outlook

• Be prepared to work some evening shifts, weekends and bank holidays

• Be able communicate across the board with social services, health professionals, care workers, service users and their families

• Have a calm, patient telephone manner and be professional at all times

• Have an outgoing and friendly personality with a good sense of humour

31

May

2018

GDPR

Most of you will already be aware of the new General Data Protection Regulations that set guidelines for businesses like ours about the collection and processing of personal information.

At Clarendon, we want all of our service users and employees to have absolute confidence that we process the data we hold about you securely and transparently.

With that in mind we will soon be sending each of you a Privacy Notice which sets out the types of data that we hold on you and also how we use that information, how long we keep it for and other relevant information about your data.

We will also be sending you the company’s Subject Access Request Policy which outlines the rights you have in regards to accessing the data we hold about you and how you can go about doing that if you wish to.

21

March

2018

Thumbs Up!

A lovely compliment from a Service user in the Spelthorne area:

“I would like to register our sincere thanks to the amazing team of Clarendon Spelthorne Home Carers. During a very difficult time, due to the snow and ice, the carers arrived on time to administer personal care. They remained cheerful and professional for the duration of the terrible weather conditions when schools were closing and other people worked from home. Not our ladies! They really deserve a massive round of applause for their devotion to their clients and we really want to say 'Thank you so much' to them all. They are a fantastic team of wonderful ladies, they rarely complain and are always willing to go that extra mile. What would we do without their commitment and their smiles which light up the day?”

14

March

2018

It is a requirement of our contract with Surrey Social Services that we operate a call monitoring system that will accurately document when care staff arrive at and leave a service users’ property.

When we trialled the PASSsystem app last year our care staff felt that it was too time consuming hard to use. They also told us that the way PASSsystem allowed them to view their rota was too confusing.

This month we will begin trialling another app called Tagtronics Care. While similar to PASSsystem is many ways, the difference with the Tagtronics app is that it links directly to our office rostering software. This means staff will be able to see live, real-time updates to their rota as and when changes are made.

We feel that the Tagtronics Care app will be a simpler, easier way of introducing this kind of system to the work we do and we believe it will become an essential part of continuing to provide the very best level of care to our service users.

4

February

2018

Dignity Action Day

A big thanks to all of you, care workers old and new, who popped by the office on Thursday February 1st to celebrate Dignity Action Day with us!

Dignity Action Day is an annual opportunity for health and social care workers, as well as members of the public, to uphold people’s rights to dignity and provide a truly memorable day for people who use care services. The event aims to ensure that people who use care services are treated as individuals and are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.

We had balloons, sandwiches and a specially made cake in the office as all visitors were encouraged to contribute to our dignity tree by hanging a leaf where they’d written down what dignity meant to them.

While the day may have been and gone, we’d still encourage each of you to become dignity champions yourself by clicking on the link below:

Dignity Action Day

Clarendon Home Care is taking part in Dignity Action Day on Thursday February 1st 2018 and we’d like as many of you possible to pop by the office that day and join us for a slice of cake, a cuppa and some sandwiches.

Dignity Action Day is an annual opportunity for health and social care workers, as well as members of the public, to uphold people’s rights to dignity and provide a truly memorable day for people who use care services.

Dignity Action Day aims to ensure people who use care services are treated as individuals and are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.

Supporting Dignity Action day will:

• Raise awareness of the importance of Dignity in Care

• Provide someone with an extra special day

• Demonstrate that everybody in the community has a role to play in upholding Dignity in Care

• Remind the public that staff have a right to be treated with dignity and respect too

• Provide a great community networking opportunity

By visiting the office on Thursday February 1st you’ll be supporting a great cause as well as getting a free lunch! You’ll also have a chance to help us decorate our dignity tree which is sitting in the office as of today and is designed to capture your thoughts and ideas about dignity in health and social care and what these things means to you.

We’d encourage each of you to become dignity champions yourself by clicking on the link below:

https://www.dignityincare.org.uk/…/Becoming_a_Dignity_Cham…/

Remember we want as many of you as possible to come to the Kingston office on February 1st and join us as we celebrate Dignity Action Day!

18

January

2018

A couple of snaps of our wonderful seniors who came for a meeting at our Kingston office yesterday.... They all do an amazing job in making sure our service users are receiving outstanding care and are our eyes and ears in the field. Thumbs up to you all 🖒

4

January

2018

Many congratulations to Dawn Burgess who today takes up her new role as Senior Home Care Assistant for the Spelthorne area. Dawn has earned her new position by showing reliability, loyalty and a genuine compassion for her service users. She, like all of our care staff is a fine example to others of all that is good in the care industry.

What a nice way to start 2018! Congratulations Dawna and all the best in your new role!

13

December

2017

Thanks to the lovely group of Elmbridge care workers pictured here joining our in-house trainer Alison Burr for the Medication and Safeguarding Refresher workshop which took place today at the Clarendon Home Care offices in Kingston upon Thames .

It was wonderful to have such great group participation on the subjects and we hope you enjoyed the workshop and took something away from it.

Don't forget to join our lovely senior Emma next Tuesday, 19th December, 2-3pm at the Kingston office for her talk on Mental Health - awareness, how to spot it, how to care for someone and how to look after your own mental health. Hopefully see you there!

10

December

2017

Staff Survey 2017

A big thank you to everybody that has so far taken the time to work their way through the 2017 staff survey. There is still time to take the survey if you haven’t done so already.

Remember that your input into this survey is completely anonymous and that what we want from you more than anything is your absolute honesty. We’ve tried to be as direct as we can be with the questions and we hope you’ll be equally as direct with your responses.

We’ already sent you an e-mail about the survey and all you need to do to take part is follow the instructions and click on the link in that message. Alternatively you can access the link via our Facebook or Twitter pages. If you’re still having trouble, you can copy the following link into your internet browser and this will take you directly to the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/clarendon2017

As soon as we have all of the answers collected we’ll make sure we give you the results and answer any key points or queries in a future newsletter.

Thanks for taking part!

5

December

2017

Congratulations to Nicola Marshall who today became our latest Senior Home Care Assistant for the Spelthorne and Runnymede area.

Nicola has a long career in the care industry and prides herself on giving her upmost to her work and always speaking up for her service users. She is passionate about what she does and we’re pleased that she’ll now have a better platform to pass on all the knowledge she has gathered during her time as a care worker.

Nicola is pictured here with Spelthorne and Runnymede Field Supervisor Ashley and Team Leader Leanne Greenan-Howard. Well-earned Nicola, thank you for all your hard work!

Paris will be working in the Walton & Molesey area and has earned her new role by demonstrating a keen enthusiasm for all the best aspects of care work and a dedication to her service users. She takes her work seriously and we can’t wait to see her in action as a senior!

Paris is pictured here with Vicky Reid, team leader for Elmbridge and field supervisor Karl Nobes.

31

October

2017

We’d like to wish you all a Happy Halloween from all the ghosts and ghouls here at Clarendon Home Care!

Stay safe and have fun everybody!

25

October

2017

Clarendon home Care is supporting Age UK this October by stocking up on Innocent smoothies.

The easiest way to get involved is by buying a woolly-hatted innocent smoothie at your local super market. Not only do you get to fill up on a good portion of your five a day but you also get a little winter hat knitted by a member of the public! In return for your purchase, the good folks at Innocent will donate 25p to Age UK for every hat sold.

Alternatively, you can get your needles out and bang out some hats yourself! It’s as easy as knitting one, pearling one and hey presto – you’re raising money stitch-by-stitch! All you have to do is knit your hats and post them in a plastic bag to the Innocent team.

This is easy charitable giving, so do please join us and get involved! Full details on how to take part can be found by clicking here: http://www.thebigknit.co.uk/join-in

4

October

2017

Thanks to the Spelthorne team for attending our latest staff meeting yesterday. Thanks also for all your feedback, ideas, constructive criticism and positive comments.

It's great to know how much you all care and even better that we are all working together improve the lives of our service users and their families. Thank you all for coming and for all your hard work.

31

August

2017

Thanks to the Runnymede & Spelthorne field team for attending our latest staff meeting yesterday. It was a very positive meeting all round and was great to see you altogether.

We also announced that we have a new Senior Home Care Assistant in Louise Clarke, pictured here (second left) in her black tunic but soon to be in lilac! Congratulations on your new role Louise, we know you’ll be a fantastic addition to the senior HCA team and bring the same dedication to your latest position as you always have your work at Clarendon.

We’d also like to quickly say thank you for those who took the time to put a note in the comments box. It's important to get your feedback and this is definitely something we’ll be looking to do more of in the future!

7

June

2017

Clarendon Bake Sale Raises over £200

The Clarendon Bake Sale took place last Tuesday May 30th and was a great success despite the wet weather, raising over £200 for Alzheimer’s Society!

We had some amazing cakes and baked goods on display and we managed to attract the attention of many a passer-by in Kingston with the help of senior home care assistant Kathryn Ashton-Hillier and her son Robert!

A great day and lots of fun, thanks to everybody who baked, bought and enjoyed the cakes. And thanks again to Robert, without whom we imagine we would have raised a lot less! Great work!

17

May

2017

We Made May Purple for Stroke Association

Make May Purple is the Stroke Association’s annual stroke awareness month when friends, families and communities are invited to show their support for people who have been effected by stroke.

The Clarendon office team did their bit for a great cause last week by rushing out to fill the big purple hole in their work wardrobes they didn’t know they had and posing together in front of the dreaded lilac wall as one big, smiling, purple mass of charity-loving goodness.

It was great to see everybody together and to be able to capture a rare team picture against the now infamous lilac wall.

What is a Senior Home Care Assistant?

Our seniors are there to act as the link between the office team and our care workers. As well as leading by example with their care standards and their attitude towards their work, the seniors are responsible for picking up and dropping off paperwork, for amending MAR sheets and for helping the office to audit the various records we are required to keep about the care we provide.

Our seniors also play an invaluable role in new packages and the office will always consult with them on new clients or changes to rounds. Seniors also help to carry out on-site supervisions to ensure that Clarendon is always striving to maintain the highest care standards. Seniors really do their bit to represent the company in the best light and to work with management to make new carers feel as supported and as welcome as possible.

What is a Field Supervisor?

Our newly-appointed field supervisor role requires all of the same skills that we ask of our seniors. The main difference is that field supervisors use their many years of frontline care experience to take a more active role in the support of new and existing staff. The field supervisor will take a more proactive approach in training care workers in the field as well as supporting the quality assurance team to carry out risk assessments, reviews and to update care plans.

Being a field supervisor is all about having put the hours in and having the knowledge of care work and the company that means you are the ‘go to’ care worker in any given area. Again, field supervisors work with the management and office team to make sure we are always looking to improve and to meet the very highest of care standards.

15

Feb

2017

Congratulations Senior HCA Annette Jackson

Congratulations to the lovely Annette Jackson who late last week was appointed as our newest senior home care assistant!

Annette will be working in the Ashford and Sunbury area and is excited to get to work in her new role.

Anette joined the Clarendon Home Care team in 2015 as a care worker and since joining the company she has shown a great dedication to her work and her service users and has demonstrated her exceptional care standards.

Anette has earned her lilac tunic through her hard work, friendly manner and her ability to work closely with the office team to solve problems and improve the lives of service users.

Congratulations Annette!

04Feb

2017

Thumbs Up!

If you haven’t already, make sure to visit our Facebook and Twitter pages where each day for the next couple of weeks we’ll be publishing our service users’ thoughts and comments about the care workers that visit them and the service Clarendon provides.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget why we do this kind of work and why you are all so valued by the people you care for, so we thought we’d take this opportunity to help remind you!

Be sure to follow the various ‘Thumbs Up’ compliments on Facebook and Twitter!

​

01

Feb

2017

REFER A FRIEND TO WORK FOR US AND EARN £600 CASH.

It’s worth remembering that if you bring a friend along to work for us you can earn some serious money in the process via our ‘refer a Friend’ recruitment scheme.

Referrals from people that know our business well are one of the best ways for us to recruit the right kind of staff and we’d much rather give our money to you than the many recruitment companies out there.

If you know somebody that is interested in care work then there are three ways they can get in touch:

Just make sure your friend tells us they have been referred by you and we’ll get in touch with them and do the rest. As soon as they’ve passed their probation we’ll pay you your £600 referral fee!

From February this year we’re paying even more for the best recruits:

Experienced Full-timer: £600

Inexperienced Full-Timer: £400

Part-timer (over 16 hours): £200

Whether it’s a friend, family member, somebody you work with or even just somebody you meet while out on your travels, we’re always on the look-out for new staff to join our ranks and particularly people that know a bit about the job. So keep an eye out for potential new recruits and earn some extra money in the process!

25

Jan

2017

Congratulations Vicky!

We’d like to start this week by offering our sincere congratulations to Vicky Reid (pictured left) who this week became team leader for Elmbridge.

Vicky has only worked for Clarendon as a care coordinator since late last year but in that time she has quickly established herself as a key and highly capable member of the office team.

Vicky brings a great deal of knowledge to her new role having previously worked as a care coordinator for a couple of our care work competitors.

We hope you’ll join us in wishing Vicky all the very best in her new role, we know she’s going to be amazing.

11

Nov

2016

Congratulations Tina!

We’d like to say congratulations to Tina Dones on becoming our latest Senior Home Care Assistant for the Ditton and Kingston areas.

In her short time with the company Tina has shown herself to be a dedicated and reliable home care assistant for whom the senior role seemed a natural next step.

We have no doubt that she will bring her excellent care standards and caring nature to her new position.

We didn’t have a lilac uniform for Tina to pose in but here she is in her black tunic posing against the now-famous Clarendon lilac wall!

We hope you’ll all join us in congratulating Tina on her new role and offer her every support as she gets to grips with her new responsibilities.

26

Oct

2016

Congratulations Sam!

Some very happy news this week!

We’d like to say many congratulations to our very own Sam Garrad who as part of our recent office reshuffle has this week has been appointed to the position of Team leader for Elmbridge!

Samantha has worked as a care coordinator with Clarendon for just under a year but in that time has thrown herself into the role and shown a massive desire to learn more and to progress. Sam has recently started to get involved with the scheduling and she has a lot of fresh ideas about how she wants to approach her new job.

Originally hailing from a career background as a care worker, Sam has quickly established herself as a key part of the office team and we’re delighted she’ll be continuing her work in her new role.

Congratulations Sam from everybody at Clarendon!

12

Oct

2016

Congratulations Ewa and Leanne

We want to start this week with an update on the office restructure and the first appointments we’ve made as we congratulate Ewa Kabat and Leanne Greenan-Howard on new roles at Clarendon Home Care!

Ewa, who you all know has been a senior care coordinator since joining the company in early 2015, is going to be stepping up to become our new assistant operations manager. Ewa will continue to work closely with Katarzyna and the operations team to manage the day to day running of the office as we start to introduce PASSsystem across all areas and as we start a slightly new way of delivering our weekly schedules.

Ewa has a great deal of experience in the office-based side of care work having been a care coordinator at rival company Alpen Best and having really gotten stuck into her senior care coordinator role whilst at Clarendon. We’re extremely glad to have her stay with the company in her new role and we’d like to congratulate her on all the hard work she has done to earn this promotion. Well done Ewa!

We also want to say congratulations to Leanne Greenan-Howard, our former HR and recruitment officer, who has decided to re-join the operations team as the new team leader for the Runnymede area. Leanne started her career at Clarendon as a care coordinator back in 2014 so this side of things is nothing new to her but she returns to the operations team at a time of great change and will be taking much more responsibility for schedules and the delivery of care in her new role.

We hope you’re as glad as we are that Leanne is sticking with the Clarendon family and we know you’ll join us in wishing her all the very best in her new role. Congratulations to both ladies, you’ve earned it!

12

Oct

2016

How Do You Take Your Tea? Returns this October

We are pleased to announce this week the return of ‘How Do You Take Your Tea’ an open-house event for care staff that we ran last year and which was such a success we just had to do it again this year!

While we’re always glad to see our care workers pop into the office for a chat, it can sometimes be the case that those who don't tend to stop by need a reason to come in and say hello. That reason is How Do You Take Your Tea?

We’d like to invite you all to come into the office between Monday 24th October and Friday 28th and to spend some time with the operations team.

Come and see our re-jigged office team (as detailed above) in action and come and find out about PASSsystem first hand and face-to-face. If you have any questions for the team, come along as ask them or come in drop in and raise any worries concerns, problems or difficulties you may be having at work.

Most of all though, come in and have a cuppa with the guys in the office so they can put names to faces and you can do the same. Even if you don’t have a reason to stop by but just want to say hello then we would be more than happy to see you!

14

Sept

2016

CQC Clarendon Rating: GOOD

Two weeks ago Clarendon Home Care was inspected by the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator for health and social care in England. The CQC make sure that companies like ours, as well as care homes, dentists, hospitals and GP surgeries, provide people with care that is safe, effective, compassionate and of a high quality.

The CQC operates a ‘traffic light’ system; red for ‘inadequate’, amber for ‘requires improvement’ and green for ‘good’. On rare occasions they also issue a star for services that are deemed to be ‘outstanding’.

We are delighted to announce that after a thorough inspection Clarendon Home Care has been awarded an overall rating of ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission.

The CQC said our service was effective because we have “arrangements in place to make sure people’s general health, including their nutritional needs, were met.” They also saw that “staff received regular training and support to keep them updated with best practice.”

The CQC report said our service was caring because “people were encouraged to maintain their independence.” They also recognised that we “tried to make sure (we) provided the same care staff whenever possible so people had consistency and continuity of care.” they also noted that “people’s right to privacy and dignity were maintained while supporting them.”

Our service was said to be responsive. The CQC report said that “support plans and risk assessments outlining people’s care and support needs were detailed and reviewed annually or earlier if any changes to the person’s support needs were identified.” It was also recognised that Clarendon Home Care have a complaints policy and procedure and that “people had opportunities to share their views about how the service was run.”

The CQC also said that Clarendon Home Care was “well-led” and that “staff felt supported by the general manager who was approachable and encouraged an open door policy.”

Our service was deemed to be generally safe but requiring improvement when it comes to PRN medication administration. This is something we have already addressed with the introduction of PASSsystem. On the whole though the CQC recognised that “All the people and relatives we spoke with said they felt safe within the service.”

We want to say a big thank you to all of you for making sure that we were given such a great rating and that we received such positive feedback. A special thank you to those of you that were contacted by the CQC and obviously had such positive comments to make about Clarendon Home Care. It’s because of you and your hard work that we’ve been recognised in this way. There is always room to improve however and we’ll be looking to do that as we move into 2017.

10

Aug

2016

A Big Clarendon Welcome to Diane!

We want to start this week by saying a very big Clarendon ‘hello and welcome’ to Diane Swettenham who is joining the office team this week as Quality Assurance and Training Manager.

Diane replaces Sharron Atkinson who departed last week for her native Yorkshire and our new starter is already settling into the operations team.

Diane brings a wealth of experience to her new role having previously worked as a supervisor and compliance officer at Bluebird Care in Ealing.

She has also been a team manager of a mobile health screening unit for Life Line Screening UK where she took the bottom placed team up five places into the top 3 teams in a national patient survey.

Diane will take responsibility for the Quality Assurance team and will play a vital part in our move towards the PASSsystem and beyond. She will also be overseeing all aspects of staff training and will be the line manager for all of our senior homecare assistants who she’ll be making contact with very soon.

Ani and Niki are two of the best and we’re pleased and proud to have them wear the lilac tunic!

20

July

2016

Congratulations New Senior HCAs!

Congratulations to Niki Weigner on becoming our newest Senior Home Care Assistant for Runnymede and to Ani Dobreva who will become the latest senior for Walton and Molesey!

Niki has worked for Clarendon Home Care for the past two years, starting as a Home Care Assistant before moving to the office to work as a scheduling coordinator. She has for some time now been missing being the hands-on side of care work and so is leaving her office role to become our newest senior!

She will be joined by Ani Dobreva who has worked with Clarendon since 2010 and in her time at Clarendon has proven herself to be the very cream of the crop in the way she approaches her work, acts as an advocate for her service users and in the way she deals with all of her work colleagues.

Ani and Niki are two of the best and we’re pleased and proud to have them wear the lilac tunic!

13

July

2016

Congratulations to our 10k Runners!

We’d like to start this week by saying congratulations to care coordinators Ewa Kabat and Sam Garrad who on Sunday July 10th completed the London Vitality 10k Run in aid of Alzheimer’s Society in 1 hour and 42 mins!

Sam and Ewa are pictured here after the race with their medals. As well as a brilliant personal achievement, the duo also raised over £800 for Alzheimer’s Society which is great going.

Sam and Ewa are really grateful to everybody who donated and would like to extend their warmest thanks to all of you.

As you are all no doubt aware last month Britain voted to leave the European Union. Many of our EU workers have asked how this might affect them and what it means for their working life.

While we can’t yet begin to know all of the implications of Britain leaving the EU and while there is no doubt a period of uncertainty ahead, we want to reassure our EU workers that they are vital members of our team and that we at Clarendon will do all in out power to make sure they stay that way.

It is important to note that any changes will happen very slowly and that those of you already in the country and already employed are very unlikely to be affected at all. While there may in time be some restriction on freedom of movement around Europe, it remains to be seen whether this actually becomes a reality and to what extent it will affect you.

For our part, we just want to take this opportunity as a business to say to our EU workers that we are grateful for all the brilliant work you have done and will continue to do for us. EU workers currently make up roughly 20 percent of our workforce and you make a highly valuable contribution to the work we do improving the quality of life for our service users each and every day.

Clarendon Home Care is, always has been and will remain an equal opportunities employer and EU workers are as welcome and as valued here as anybody else with a kind of caring attitude who wants to get out of bed every day and do a tough job caring for elderly people.

This goes for British members of staff as well as staff from all over the world – if you really care about others and don’t mind a hard day’s work then Clarendon is the place for you and you’ll always be welcome here.

4

March

2016

Meet the Family in April

This April 4th-8th we are going to be running a recruitment week in the Kingston offices called ‘Meet the Family’. This event is a chance for you to pop into the offices on Elm Road and bring along anybody you may know that you think would make a good care worker. You can pocket up to £300 in doing so!

Word of mouth is one of the most effective ways we have of recruiting members of staff and it’s often the case that people who have been introduced to the company by existing care workers will stay longer and perhaps knows a bit more about what they are letting themselves in for.

That’s why we’re always keen to constantly remind you that we offer the following referral bonuses: £300 if you bring somebody to us that goes on to become a full time care assistant and £150 for a part timer!

Please have a think whether you know anybody that might be interested in finding out about our company and the work we do and please bring them along to meet us in April.

You can also get involved by handing out flyers for the event. Remember you can put your initials on the flyers and if anybody comes to us after having seen a flyer that you’ve distributed we’ll still pay you that lovely referral bonus!

Let us know if this is something you want to get involved with by e-mailing Leanne on leanne@clarendonhomecare.com.

30

February

2016

Clarendon Home Care is now officially signed up for the Vitality British 10k in support of the Alzheimer's Society!

The run takes place on July 10th with many office staff and some care assistants taking part.

The Vitality British 10K London Run is a fabulous way to experience one of the world's most exciting cities. Whether you're out to beat your personal best or take it easy as you take in the stunning London scenery, this 10k really has it all.

Enjoy the sights, take on a challenge and make every step count by joining Clarendon Home Care in the fight against dementia.

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/British10k

21

February

2016

We are Hiring!

Family-run home care company Clarendon Home Care is looking for an enthusiastic, hardworking and reliable person to join our team as a care coordinator based at our offices in Kingston upon Thames.

As a care coordinator you will join our busy, bustling operations department who are the first line of communication for care workers, service users, family members and health and social care professionals.

You’ll field daily phone calls and e-mails in a calm and professional way and you’ll be an excellent written and verbal communicator who is cool under pressure while always being patient and professional.

You’ll be able to prioritise your tasks across any given day and you’ll enjoy a challenging and hectic but extremely rewarding work environment. You’ll find satisfaction in helping others, solving their problems and making a real and remarkable difference to their day. You’ll have an outgoing and friendly personality with a sense of humour and an excellent attention to detail.

The starting salary for this position is £19,000 per year rising to £20,000 after successful completion of an initial three month probation period. Our management team all started as care coordinators so there really is fantastic potential for further career development in this role!

Applicants must:

Have an excellent telephone manner, attention to detail and the ability to work under pressure.

Be able to work confidently with Excel, Word, and Outlook.

Be prepared to work some evening shifts, weekends and bank holidays.

Be able communicate across the board with social services, health professionals, care workers, service users and their families.

Have a calm, patient telephone manner and be professional at all times.

Have an outgoing and friendly personality with a good sense of humour.

Your responsibilities will include:

Helping to answer all incoming phone calls and dealing with queries efficiently.

Maintaining and updating our care rota database with high standards of detail.

Organising the schedules of Home Care Assistants and arranging cover for sickness and absence.

On-call duties two evenings a week and every other weekend.

A D.B.S. check will be required.

Please apply in writing with a CV and covering letter to recruitment@clarendonhomecare.com

23

January

2016

Clarendon Christmas Carollers

A massive well done to the assembled Christmas carollers for all the work they have done these past weeks to bring some Christmas cheer to a lucky selection of Clarendon service users.

Gillian and her group of volunteers, including care assistants Tracey Townend and Maddie Swinglehurst who are pictured with her here, have taken to the streets to sing Christmas carols, distribute mince pies and other gifts and spend some time with some of our lovely ladies and gentleman during what can for many vulnerable adults the loneliest period of the year.

Gillian, who came up with the idea herself, said of the Christmas carol visits: “It has been a really hard task but (you could) see and feel the gratitude and thanks that such a small gesture has meant to so many of our customers.”

We will report more on this in the New Year but for now let’s all say well done to everybody that contributed to the Clarendon Christmas Carols and let’s make sure we do it bigger and better next year!

Clarendon Home Care founder and director Jacqueline Jones has scooped the Outstanding Contribution to Social Care award at the Surrey Care Awards 2015 which took place on Friday November 20th at Epsom Downs Race Course.

Jackie, who was a care worker for Richmond Council for many years before founding Clarendon in 1994, collected her award from BBC News presenter Nicholas Owen at the culmination of the gala dinner and ceremony on Friday night and was greeted with cheers and chants from the rowdy Clarendon table and the assembled audience alike.

There were many worthy winners on the night but it was clear that Jackie’s award had a special significance due to the many years she spent working out in the community as a care assistant and later as a care manager. This was all clear to see from the overwhelmingly positive reaction she received from the audience on the big evening.

Jackie herself said “I’m so grateful to win this as I’ve never really had anything like this before, I’ve never really wanted it to be honest. This award is for everybody at Clarendon and I hope everybody feels as proud of the work we do as I certainly do today.”

When asked what she was going to do with the award, Jackie joked that “We should put in on a giant plinth in the office or in a special display case as you walk in!” before concluding that “I’ll probably just leave it on my desk. But I’ll never forget how proud I felt of us all as I collected it.”

Jackie would like to pass on her thanks to all care staff, office staff and service users for making Clarendon Home Care the company it is and for giving her the chance to accept this kind of award. Thank you everybody!

For more photos of Clarendon and Jackie’s big night, log on to our Facebook and Twitter pages where you’ll also find all the latest news and gossip from the Kingston office.

21

November

2015

How do You Take Your Tea?’ a Great Success

The Clarendon Home Care offices in Kingston were buzzing with visitors during the last two weeks of November as we launched our ‘How Do You Take Your Tea’ open house event which encouraged anybody that wanted to pop in and see us to please come along and do so.

Care workers, care professionals and even a couple of service users came along to see the newly painted offices and to meet the new members of the office operations team who dutifuly man the phones from day-to-day.

The event was such a big success that we are keen to do it again next year, only this time we want it to be bigger and better and we want to try and involve service users and their families as well.

Company director Martyn Jones said of the event: “Thigs like this are a great chance for the office team to get to sit down with care staff and service users alike and to find out a bit more about what goes on out in the field. It helps keep everybody in touch with day-to-day care in the local community, which really is the nuts and bolts of a local, family run company like ours.”

Next year we want to see service users and their families come along so some of you can get to meet the friendly voices at the end of the Clarendon telephones each day.

We’ll be running another ‘How Do You take Your Tea’ event at some point in 2016 so please do make sure that you come in and see us next time around!

4

November

2015

Clarendon and the Social Care Commitment

Clarendon Home Care has signed up to Skills for Care’s Social Care Commitment. The Social Care Commitment is the adult social care sector's promise to provide people who need care and support with high quality services.

It is a Department of Health initiative that has been developed by the sector, so it is fit for purpose and makes a real difference to those who sign up.

Made up of seven statements, with associated 'I will' tasks that address the minimum standards required when working in care, the commitment aims to both increase public confidence in the care sector and raise workforce quality in adult social care.

Who makes the commitment?

Any employees and employers in adult social care can make the commitment. Importantly it's not just for those who are employed in care and support roles, but for everyone in the sector including volunteers.

An employer or organisation makes their commitment first, then they are able to encourage their employees and subsidiaries to make the commitment, so the whole workforce is working towards improving quality and raising standards.

How is the commitment made?

Making the commitment involves agreeing to the seven statements and selecting tasks to help put those statements into practice. Tasks cover activities such as recruiting the right staff, having a thorough induction, ensuring a strong culture that values dignity and respect and effective communication. Doing the tasks provides an official record of work done, which can raise job satisfaction and increase staff confidence.

How do I sign up and make the commitment?

We’ve signed up to the commitment as an organisation but anybody working in social care can sign up as an individual to and do their part to commit to the very best standards of care. To read more about how to sign up as an individual visit:

https://www.thesocialcarecommitment.org.uk/Home/About

Once you’ve signed up, be sure to let us know. We strongly encourage all Clarendon care staff to sign up for the Social care Commitment and to do your part to make social care in the UK something we can all be proud of.

4

October

2015

More Level 3 QCFs This Year than Ever Before

Clarendon Home Care has once again shown its commitment to staff training and development by becoming one of the leading care agencies when it comes to staff studying for the Qualifications and Credit Framework qualification (equivalent to NVQ) in Level 3 Health and Social Care.

Clarendon has put more staff forward for the QCF Level 3 this year than ever before and according to general manager David Vincent it’s all part of a concerted effort to improve the lives of service users.

David said “This year we have made a special push to try and make our staff feel more appreciated and to live up to the values we have set for ourselves at Clarendon of being a place where care work is not just a throw away job but can be the start of a rewarding career and a platform for self-improvement.”

And care workers with Clarendon can expect the trend to continue with David promising that things will only get better in 2016: “We’ve done well in 2015 by increasing numbers of QCF-trained care workers to unprecedented levels but our aim next year is to double that number yet again.”

“Our staff survey for 2015 really highlighted that training and personal development is one of the key ways we can keep our staff happy and we’ve listened to that and tried to act accordingly. We think that training and development, along with all the other staff incentives and fun company events we’ve had this year, have really made Clarendon a very different place to work than it was just a couple of years ago.

4

March

2016

Seniors Gather to Celebrate Their Hard Work

Our team of Senior Home Care Assistants gathered in the office for our How Do You Take Your Tea open house event a few weeks back and posed for the Clarendon cameras as the company stopped for a moment to celebrate all the hard work this amazing team have accomplished since the senior role was created in 2012.

The introduction of our senior home care assistants has allowed Clarendon to improve the quality of its care and has been invaluable in lending much needed support to new and existing care staff, especially out in the field where it’s needed the most.

The ladies (and gent) pictured here stopped by for our How Do You Take Your Tea event which ran at the Kingston offices in November and gave everybody the chance to pop in and see the freshly painted Clarendon offices and to meet the new members of the office team.

Pictured here from left to right we have in the front row: Ashley Woods, Siobhan Bennett, Tracey Townend and Fleur Roache. In the back row we have Emma Belham, Afroditi Athanasiou, Paula Cork, Alison Enright, Jennie Cornwall and Karl Nobes.

All have made a big contribution to the success that Clarendon has experienced over the past few years and every one of them works tirelessly to ensure the safety of their service users. Well done everybody!